A Night on Guard
by Tira
Summary: Wow! So I'm continuing it! '“Minerva!” Tonks cried. She rushed into the small room that the Professor was lying in and immediately went to her favorite teacher’s side managing to trip over a stool on the way.' Set during OotP. R&R please!
1. On Guard

He paced in front of the door, his wand clutched tightly in his hand. Where was she? Where in the world could she be? She was supposed to be here nearly eight minutes ago. He anxiously ran a hand through his graying hair and looked around. Still no sign of her…she could have been attacked…could she?

No, he shook his head to clear it. That was impossible…it was just impossible. After Arthur, they'd taken extra precautions. Any moment she'd come stumbling down the hall…knocking over a-a hat rack or something. Again he ran a hand through his hair.

And sure enough not more then a minute later he heard a faint cry of pain and a figure stumbled down the hallway, rubbing her shin in pain and glancing around to make sure that she had gone unheard. 

"Tonks?" he hissed. "Tonks is that you?"

"Yes," came the painful reply. "Don't worry Remus; it's just clumsy old Tonks."

"Are you alright?" the werewolf instantly began questioning. "Why are you late? Did you hurt yourself? Did anyone see you?"

Tonks yawned. "I'm fine; I just bumped into a stool that was sitting up there. Nope no one saw me, although I had to dodge a couple of Ministry wizards coming out late. My shin's a bit bruised but I think I can deal with that."

Remus growled and turned his back against the corridor wall and sighed. "You worried me Tonks," he growled gruffly, making the girl giggle. He looked over at her surprised. "What?"

"You just sounded exactly like Moody," the now pink haired girl replied laughing softly. 

"Oi." Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't think I can stand that." 

They sat in silence for a while, Remus standing with his back against the wall propped up. He was staring blankly across the hallway his thoughts traveling back to his days in Hogwarts. Tonks was sitting on the floor with her back to the wall, her knees pulled up to her chest and her eyes weakly fluttering open and closed. Remus turned to look at her and noticing this gave her a sharp poke in the side with his booted foot.

"Don't fall asleep, Tonks," the man said warily. "That's how the snake got Arthur."

"Yeah," said the girl sleepily. "But I've got you with me…"

He looked down at the top of her head, smiling slightly his face looking younger then it had in years.

"C'mon Tonks." He stood from the wall and nudged the Auror with his foot. "Get up, we've got to do something to keep us awake."

"Why?"

"Because," Remus said. "We need to be awake and guard this door with our lives. Harry's fate depends on how well we guard this door. We've got to be _awake Tonks…" Again he nudged her with a booted foot._

"I swear in Merlin's Beard if you poke me with your boot one more time Remus Lupin I will personally curse you into oblivion…" Her shin was throbbing and she just wanted to be left alone.

"Really?" he asked interestedly. "Well then…" Quickly he lunged forward and nudged her knee with his boot and then leapt back.

He was lucky that he did.

Tonks was up in a moment, her wand in the air, a spell on her lips. Just as she was about to cast it she tripped, over her own feet, and stumbled. With lightening like reflexes that would have made him a greet Keeper, Remus caught the girl, just before she hit the ground. 

They stayed still for a moment, staring into each other's eyes, her dark ones gazing in wonder at how young and playful his eyes really were. A sudden blush rose faintly on Remus's cheeks as though an embarrassing thought had just arisen in his mind.

"Um…" he murmured still holding her up from the ground. "Just…um…be careful okay Tonks?"

She nodded, having to fight the sudden urge to lean up and quickly kiss this man. 

But that wouldn't do, she thought a few minutes later as she sat in her previous position up against the wall. There was to be no romance in this Order of the Phoenix. It was not an order, or a rule, but it was…implied… 

Yet she couldn't shake the strange feeling that had suddenly overcome her, a feeling that she hadn't felt since her sixth year in Hogwarts. A feeling like the one that encompassed her now had once taken over her at a school ball....But that had been long ago. Nearly eight years ago now…

"Remus?" she asked turning her head to look up at him. He was leaning his back against the wall, tapping his wand against his knee.

"Yes?" he asked softly.

She opened her mouth and floundered for a moment. She hadn't really expected him to listen to her. For some reason she had thought that he might ignore her or…or something…So she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Do you like my hair?"

"What?"

"Umm…" she fumbled wildly trying to think of what to say. "I mean do you think that it's to b-bright or…" she stared down at her shoes. "Never mind, Remus, it was a silly question."

"If I didn't know any better," Remus replied smiling gently. "I'd say that you were trying to impress me." He cocked and eyebrow down at the young Auror who smiled slyly and looked up at him.

"What if I am?" 

He smiled again and slid his back down the wall so that he was sitting in the identical position as Tonks. 

"What's your favorite candy, Tonks?" Remus asked suddenly, breaking the silence. 

"Hmm…" she thought for a moment and then smiled. "Chocolate Frogs. And yourself?"

"I would have to say that a nice big slab of Honeyduke's best chocolate is good for me," the ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher said.  

"Should have known…" Tonks muttered. 

They fell silent again, neither speaking for a long time. It was finally Tonks who spoke first, her voice quavering with a bit of something that sounded to Remus like fear.

"How is this all going to turn out?" she whispered. 

Remus sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "I don't know Tonks. I'd like to tell you that everything is going to be okay. That Harry is going to defeat Voldemort and we are all going to live happily ever after. But…I don't know Tonks, I've got this really weird feeling in my gut. Like something horrible is about to happen and there's no way for me to stop it. Like…"

"Like someone's going to…to die?" Tonks whispered. Remus nodded looking slightly surprised. The Metamorphmagus sighed sadly. "I feel it too, Remus. It's as if someone's hanging an omen over me…its horrible…"

The ex-teacher moved towards Tonks and put his arms around her. "Don't worry Tonks," he whispered. "Nothing bad's going to happen okay?" He smiled sadly. "And I won't let anything happen to you least of all. Remember Tonks, you've got me here…"

She smiled through the tears dripping down her face and hugged Remus back.

At that moment a footfall was heard throughout the whole hallway. The woman's eyes flew wide open, the last of the tears disappearing. Remus pulled something from his pocket and threw it around them, pressing his body close against hers.

"Quiet," he whispered not unkindly.

"Remus?" a voice called urgently. "Tonks, are you two down here?"

Remus threw the cape off of him and helped Tonks up. "Kingsley?" he asked, shocked. "What's wrong?"

"What happened?" Tonks asked. When Remus looked at her, he noticed that she must have altered her eyes because they were no longer red and teary. 

"It's Minerva," Kingsley said hurriedly. "Dumbledore thought you ought to know. She's in St. Mungo's."

A/n: Well, here's where I leave you. What did you think? Review please! This is intended to be a one shot but I think I might be able to continue it…we'll see…Hope your summer is being great!


	2. In the Hospital

A/n: Well…wow. I really wasn't going to continue this…but with reactions like that…how can I not!! Well…here it is…

"Minerva!" Tonks cried. She rushed into the small room that the Professor was lying in and immediately went to her favorite teacher's side managing to trip over a stool on the way. Remus followed more slowly but with no less intensity painted upon his features. The same worry and fear that covered his partner's features covered his.

Minerva cracked one weary eye open and smiled as her gaze fell upon Tonks on the floor. "Oh Nymphadora…" she whispered fondly.

The pink haired girl sat up, still on the floor, gazing up at the wise woman. AS both Remus and Minerva watched, the girl's shoulders began to buck as silent sobs wracked her body. And then the tears came, flooding quickly from her dark eyes. 

"Nymphadora," Minerva said quietly. She was the only person in the world that could call the young Auror by her first name and come away intact. Even her mother, Andromeda, couldn't get away with it. "Nymphadora, really. I'm fine."

Remus came forward and awkwardly helped the girl up before conjuring up a chair for her to sit in which she did, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry Minerva," Tonks whispered. "I just…what if you—what if I'd lost you. You're like a mother to me," she whispered. "You're the wonderful wise witch that looked after me all through Hogwarts, subtly of course, and then even after Hogwarts…even after Hogwarts you still looked after me." She hiccupped and then took the handkerchief from Remus's hand. Minerva held the girl's hand comfortingly.

"Don't worry," the old witch said softly in a very motherly fashion, one of which Remus had never seen her before. "I have no intention of leaving any of you any time soon." Suddenly she seemed to resurface and the Minerva McGonagall that the werewolf had always known fixed them both with sharp, searching looks. "Did you have any trouble?" 

"No," the tired eyed man shook his head. "No, none at all. So…" He gazed down at Minerva and then stuck his hands in his pocket. "So what happened?"

"Well," the witch began. "I was sitting in my office correcting papers when I happened to look out of the window. I saw four dark shapes hurrying down to Hagrid's. Of course I went to investigate, fearing the worse." Tonks had stopped sniffling and was watching her mentor intently. "When I got outside, they had begun to attack Hagrid."

"No…" Remus whispered from where he stood in the shadows. A thought had suddenly struck him. "Minerva, tell me…tell me that it wasn't her."

The woman studied her bed sheets intently. "It was, Remus. Umbridge, Dawlish and two others that I didn't recognize. Anyway I was apparently irritating them….Four Stunners to the chest."

"Merlin's Beard…" Tonks whispered clasping a hand over her mouth and anxiously running her eyes over the woman as if she could see the wounds. Quickly she squeezed the teacher's hand.

"Dammit," Remus cried in a very un-Remus like fashion. He began to pace nervously around the room, his hands clutched tightly in front of him. 

"Remus?" Tonks asked quietly. 

"Now she's got Hogwarts," the werewolf said fretfully. "I mean she's really got it. The only one left is Snape and I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him…And she'll do anything to get the information that she wants, trust me Minerva. Harry and his friends are in real danger if Umbridge thinks that they know anything…"

While he continued to rant and wring his hands, Minerva leaned over and whispered something into her friend's ear. Tonks nodded, stood and walked over to her ranting partner. Then she reached her hand up and slapped him-not too hard but hard enough as to get his attention-on the cheek. He stared at her, shock very evident in his hazel eyes. The Metamorphmagus shrugged and pointed at Minerva.

"You were getting hysterical," the old witch said sternly as he conjured up another chair. "Do not worry about Harry and the others. They will be fine as long as they obey the rules—"

"That's what I'm worried about," Remus murmured running a hand through his graying hair. He nodded to the Professor. "I'm sorry Minerva. I'm just very tired."

"How many weeks?" she asked the werewolf, ignoring Tonks's questioning glances.   

"Two and a half," the man replied wearily running and hand through his hair and rubbing his face.

"Don't worry," Minerva said. "You'll be fine. You always were at Hogwarts." She smiled. "But then again you did have your friends running around and protecting you, didn't you?"

Remus looked down at his shoes and muttered something incomprehensible to both Tonks and Minerva. The latter smiled at the two sitting there beside each other.. A look appeared on her face as if she had just realized and she smiled again.

"Well you two should get some sleep," she said. "Merlin knows that I need some."

Remus stood immediately and helped Tonks up from her squishy blue seat and both smiled wearily at the teacher. As they left the room, their good-byes and promises for more visits said, Minerva called the wizard to stay back for a moment.

"Yes?" he asked after Tonks had closed the door a curious look upon her young features.

"Be kind to her, Remus," the witch said smiling. Remus became suddenly interested in the ground.

"Don't know what you're talking about Minerva," he said blushing bright red. She just laughed as the wizard left.

"What did she want?" Tonks asked as they walked down the hallway towards the entrance of the great wizarding hospital.

"Oh not much," he said sticking his hands into the pockets of his robes nervously. "Just to tell us to be careful and all…"

"Oh…" Tonks nodded, but the Auror in her had arisen and she didn't seem totally satisfied with the answer provided. But she let it go and just folded her arms as they stepped out onto the street.

"Back to headquarters then?" Remus asked steering them towards Grimmauld Place.

They had been walking for about ten minutes in silence gazing around at everything but each other when Tonks glanced over at the man beside her smiling gently. She watched his face, illuminated by the streetlamps, as they walked.

"Remus?" Tonks asked as they walked. She had her hands in her pockets and was staring up at the sky and the stars that speckled the blackness.

"Yes, Tonks?" he replied serenely. They had arrived at Grimmauld Place and were standing on the sidewalk in front of it.

"Minerva's going to be alright isn't she?" Her scared, tired dark eyes bore deeply into his hazel ones. "I mean that feeling that we were having. It was pure-p-pure stupidity right? I mean its not real, right? No one's going to get hurt or die….right?"

He looked over at the girl. Her fear was so tangible. Her fear, not for her own life, but for her friends'. He smiled gently. "I don't know, Tonks. I just don't know."

Suddenly the girl hugged him. "Don't leave me Remus. Please don't leave me." Then she suddenly pulled back, blushing and ran into the house.

He shoved his hands into his Muggle-jean pockets and stared after her something like a smile playing gently upon his kind features.

"Don't worry," he whispered after her. "I won't."

A/N: Well?


End file.
